In the not too distant past, Lord Lucien Sylvanus of Wyvar had been commissioning his generals to explore the ruins of his kingdom in search of gold and treasures. Funds had been desperately needed; Lucien want to throw a war. Denizen regencies to the east had been growing soft and lazy from economic prosperity. To overcome the dullardy that was creeping into his own lands, Lucien sent word to these lands to invite them to the field of battle, to enjoy the adrenaline of warfare and the manliness of sword-in-hand. What can we say? They came! At least, a coalition of venerable soldiers from the golden age of "Castle" arrived, ready to spill brik-gore across the plain. But...I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Dragon Guard were first on the scene and took the opportunity to view the battlefield and assemble themselves...

Turn 0/Setup

A view of the battlefield. The Dragon Guard could hardly believe their eyes. A beautiful expansive plain with a river coursing through it. In the distance (though out of bounds) a castle and small hamlet. Lucien could not place who controlled this fiefdom nor if he had been prompt with his taxes. Little matter, bigger issues at hand. Several hillocks dot the landscape, a smithy, three perimeter towers, and the sunken ruins of some long-forgotten Colosseum...

Here, to the Dragon Guard's left flank, two perimeter towers and the smithy. The river effectively cuts the battlefield in half. This flank affords no bridge to cross. For this battle, water has no dangerous effect. It simply cuts movement in half. It effectively takes a turn to forde the river.

Sunken ruins at the center of the map. Here also is the only bridge to the river.

Lucien surveys his battle lines. To the left he places his Dragon-maw flamer, a unit of spearmen, his bodyguards, and a Dragonmage. He has heard rumors that his adversary might be employing outriders. He has no desire to leave his prize siege engine undefended.

To the right, the rest of the Dragon Guard. A squad of spearmen and a squad of dual wielders are supported by two units of archers (one on the hill), a griffin-riding mage (the actual "Hero" unit), another Dragonmage, and several Dragon Knights. The Dragon Knights deploy on the other side of the river to avoid having to slosh through water on turn 1.

Ah, the Dragon Guard's adversary (played by my friend Erbe). These classic knights are deployed with two units of spears to the far right, toward the center 3 units of archers, some halberdiers, and a full squad (8) heavy knights. Two ballistae are on the far left hill. This army also sports a fire "wizard" (uses a flame thrower), a necromancer (who was almost useless...you'll see!), and the knightly Hero (shiny broadsword, samurai armor, visored helm).

...AND a sneaky group of scouting light cavalry (one of the units is a sorceress/damsel). With their special ability, they have deployed behind the scenic tower to my left flank, about a foot or so from my battle lines ...Thank Brikthulu I kept some infantry with my warmachine or it'd be toast

With battle-lines drawn, the carnage ensues!

Turn 1

Dragon Guard

The small force on my left flank reforms to take on the outriders behind the tower. The Dragonmage uses his supernatural dice pool to create a fire "wall" in front of the partially exposed Flamer Cannon.

With an epic sprint roll, the griffin wings its way up onto the top tier of the ruins. Below, Dragon Guard infantry approach the bridge to begin the march to the other side (and their foes!).

For his feat, the cantankerous wizard diverts the river smack dab into the middle of the heavy cavalry. No casualties, but their movement is hampered, and the field is even that trickier to maneuver.

To the far right, the Dragon Knights begin skirting the hamlet. The Dragonmage joins them. I have left one unit of archers on the hill.

Classic Knights

Because of distance, the Classic Knights do very little except push forward onto the field. Knights attempt to get out of the water. On the left flank, the outriders do not take the bait but begin circling around the other side of the tower (not shown).

Turn 2

Here you can see where the outriders attempted to skirt back around, presumable to outrun my infantry and get back to the bulk of their army.

After moving my own units forward and the bodyguard along the edge of the tower, the Dragonmage sends a fireball to obliterate two of the outriders! First brik!

With his second heroic feat, my blue mage summons two Scarab "water beetles" from the depths of the ruins Slightly out of this photo, the infantry on the right flank reach the narrow walkbridge and begin filtering across.

And here my brilliance turns to folly. The feat from last turn kicks me in the pants and prevents my knights from getting to the center of the field; no charging action for them. They wait by the hamlet.

Classic Knights

The sorceress with the outriders sees the predicament she and her soldiers are in. Ordering them to back up, she summons some magicks to cause an earthquake, one that will topple over on top of Lucien and his body guards! Sadly, the feat fails, and the tower crumbles with little other effect (I didn't push for any more adverse effects because simply removing the tower now effectively prevents the outriders from doing this cute ring-around-the-rosie dance).

After moving his infantry up, Erbe unleashed a deadly volley to slay the Water Scarab. The necromancer took the opportunity to, Diablo II style, raise a humanoid skeleton from its remains ... side note, because I'll forget to mention it later, but this is the only skeleton the necromancer was able to raise ALL GAME

More general movements from Erbe. The archers on his right flank were also able to take one point off my griffin.

Turn 3

Lucien and the body guards wheel to the left of the ruined tower. Unable to make it into combat, they successfully block any attempt to escape in that direction. The spears on this side also move forward, the Dragonmage had attempted a speed-boosting spell, but the sorceress-damsel was able to disrupt the magicks.

With the river in the way, the Dragon Knights do the next best thing, sweep around into the narrow gaps, setting up charges for next turn. The Dragonmage had attempted to enchant their movement such that they could walk through the walls of the building, but that was ineffective. The champion has decided to take on the Classic Heavy Knights all by himself...yeah...that's gonna work...

My infantry are still, also, fiddling with the bridge and trying to get across the river...

The second Scarab Beetle charges and skewers one spearman.

And the Griffin swoops down from his perch on the ruins and begins to snack and hack at a squad of crossbows. Three are slain this turn and the 4th is taken out of commission next turn as he tries to run away!

"Oh my! It is quite a swift and perilous descent from all the way up here...I think i'll not jump down just yet...I'd much rather hurl fireballs from the parapet than risk soiling my shiny blue hat!"

Classic Knights

The Dragon Guard's first casualty is costly: a Dragonmage. Speared by a ballista bolt.

The second ballista veers off course and impales a classic knight!

"Hhhaaahhhh!" With a shout and the mystical crackling of mana in the air, the classic knight's fire mage utterly roasts the Griffin. Two arcs worth of flamer damage are pretty good. Pretty good.

You can see from the first photo, too, that Erbe is moving his halberds forward to meet my squad of dual-wielders (who have finally traversed the bridge).

In a rage of retribution, classic Spearmen turn the Scarab into a kebab. Having not used a feat in a turn, the Blue Wizard attempted to turn this corpse into a firebomb. The feat failed.

(Note: this photo may be bleeding into turn 4). With nothing doing, the outriders charge in and attack Lucien and the bodyguards. The resulting flurries (after two rounds of combat...the end of turn 3/beginning of turn 4) leave one bodyguard slain and two mangled horses (I play that, if a minifigs weapon cannot reach to hit the mounted unit, the horse must be taken out before the mounted fig can be harmed).

Turn 4

Dragon Guard

On the left flank, the spearman commit to a successful charge which eliminates the sorceress-damsel. I may have attempted to roast her with the Dragon Flamer Cannon, but that would have failed.

The dragon knights are also finally capable of engaging some enemies! I cannot for the life of me remember why the one in the center is dead; response attacks from the enemy hero probably. The dragon knight champion takes out the enemy hero's horse.

(blurry pic): Two dragon knights peel off and assault the ballista squad on the hill. The attacks whiff.

Atop the sunken ruins, my blue mage hero decides it is time for more pyrotechnics. A fabulous flurry of supernatural dice rolls sends a fireball careening down at a squad of 5 archers. Only 1 survives the fiery blast! Fire is fast becoming the most effective weapon the field of battle.

Classic Knights

A very sad day for the Dragon Guard. Before he can duck down behind the battlements, the last squad of classic archers sends a lethal volley at his pointy blue hat! I feel like my tactical decisions up to this point had been very sound. I REALLY need to start remember to send redshirts with my hero!

The now lone outrider slays a second bodyguard.

A combination of flame staves and halberdiers reduces the dual-wielder squad by 2 and leaves one on fire. Two halberdiers pay for this attack with their lives.

The classic hero uses his feat to spring off the ground and claim another horse as his own.

Turn 5

Combats continue on the right flank and one member of the upper ballista squad is eliminated.

The dual-wielders execute the final two halberdiers, while at the same time a squad of Dragon Guard archers combine fire against the classic fire mage (the archers still haven't crossed the river .

Nothing eventful happens on the left flank that I can recall...

Classic Knights

On their turn, Erbe has his remaining archers gun-down my final magic user. As a side note, I have been using the tentative 2010 rules for supernatural dice/powers in my last several games and I have to say that I really enjoy their flexibility and easy of use. But that is neither here nor there...

More combat on the ballista hill with both knights and crewmen whiffing attacks left and right. I think there were some ridiculous damage rolls countered by ridiculous armor rolls squeezed in here.

And at long last the second unit of classic heavy cavalry charge into the dual wielders, reducing their number significantly. Attacks back are negligible.

And on the right flank, the classic hero continues to rack up a sick kill-count by dispatching yet another dragon knight (or if he hasn't he is GOING to rack up a sick kill count).

Turn 6

Dragon Guard

Finally...FINALLY the Dragon Guard are able to mop up the outriders on the left-hand flank. But the feat cost me the lives of all of Lucien's body guards. And NOW, I've got another river to cross...

Which the left-flank soldiers are quickly attempting to do. A failed charge by the spearmen leaves them pretty open to counterattacks, and I'm none too happy about that.

This is a lovely image, yes it is. You see, the dual-wielders had been eliminated a few seconds earlier by the remaining classic knights. BUUUTTT, my spearmen had finally filtered across the bridge (just shoulda had them jump in the water to begin with...) and so they decide to charge into the knights. Let me just say, minifigs charging with spears are just the sh*t, hands down. Try it sometime. No, go ahead...I'll wait right here while you to...

...

...

...

OK.

Right flank carnage: the champion still achieves nothing but the hill ballista squad is finally out of the picture!

Classic Knights

Boo. A combination of archer fire and charging spearmen eliminates my squad of infantry before they can even cause damage.

Oddly, nothing else happened this round; Erbe is running low on figs and all other combats were whiffs or ineffective.

Turn 7

Dragon Guard

In a flash of horse hair and steel the remaining two dragon knights kick it down the hill and slam forcefully into the second ballista squad. They stand absolutely no chance!

And THIS attack was bonkers. Waste-deep in the river, the Flamer Cannon Crew decides to unload on the classic spear squad. Heh. Needing something like 5's or 6's to hit all of them, I roll at least a 6 for every single spear person. That's 3d4 fire damage a piece. A real, royal spear person barbecue.

On the right flank, several spearmen of my own have peeled off from the main unit to attack another squad of classic spearmen. The classic knights still refuse to die.

Classic Knights

Oh woe is the Dragon Guard! The Dragon Knight champion is slain by the classic Hero (who now wields a second sword that he stole from someone else).

And here you can see the effects of the spearmen battle that is waging on the right flank. I also think my archers are finally across the river.

Classic archers continue to pick off Dragon Guard spearmen, this time on the left flank.

Turn 8

Dragon Guard

At long last, after many casualties, the spearmen finally eliminate the knight with whom they were in combat.

On the left flank, a cat-and-mouse game ensues between the squad of archers and my last two spearmen...Constant charging, shoving and shooting that does not end well for the spearmen.

Classic Knights

FATALITY! Through combat and heroic feats (decapitation), the classic hero has now officially slain every single one of my mounted dragon knights, including the champion. Soul-crushing.

The Final Turns

(I'm going to consolidate the titles for these last pictures since there are like 3 more turns yet to go but most of those turns have only one or two things happening...)

Once across the river (finally), my archers pick off the last of the classic mounted knights (not the Hero).

Sensing that so many archers should not go unchecked, the classic knight jumps the river and assaults the archer squad. His attacks WHIFF. Above that, you can see the last vestiges of the spearmen battle waging.

Said battle comes down to a mono - e - mono situation, locked in a fight to the death.

And in a move that has been deemed very Agincourt, my archers disengage from the classic hero (who WHIFFS his attacks of opportunity)...

...the two squads of archers roll a massive amount of dice (of which this is only a portion)...

...and pin the Classic Hero to the ground. I think the damage total was around 61...so...yeah...

Still on the right flank, the necromancer who can't raise a single skeleton teams up with the spearman to kill my own last spearman.

But those two are then shot to death by my remaining 16 archers

AND...at this point, all Erbe has left is 4 archers of his own. I still have my 16 archers, Lucien, and the Dragon Flamer left. The archers choose to flee the scene, hopefully to tell more of their comrades that there is a battle going on and they should come join the fun

The End

Victory went to the Dragon Guard. I once again retained my ability to roll 6's like a boss. Not that this really matters, but the Dragon Guard are now 3-1-0 on the field of battle. Hope you all enjoyed another edition of Rev's battle reports. Thanks for reading. We'll see you next time.

Rev. Sylvanus wrote:I have been using the tentative 2010 rules for supernatural dice/powers in my last several games and I have to say that I really enjoy their flexibility and easy of use. But that is neither here nor there...

If not with a hint of Warhammer, if I do say so myself. The use of tactics and real strategy in this game was apparent, and in my opinion, raises it above other Brikwars. I might have to try some of these ideas in Brikwars myself!

My friend who played and I live 1/2 hour to 45 min apart; rather than truck to either of our places, we landed at a hobby shop. He's actually a current warhammer player, so it was an easy set-up for us to agree to, especially since we were meeting mid-day middle of the week, no time to grab all our LEGO for scenery. I think the hobby shop's terrain worked quite nicely.

My friend who played and I live 1/2 hour to 45 min apart; rather than truck to either of our places, we landed at a hobby shop. He's actually a current warhammer player, so it was an easy set-up for us to agree to, especially since we were meeting mid-day middle of the week, no time to grab all our LEGO for scenery. I think the hobby shop's terrain worked quite nicely.

jodokast wrote:It was nice to see Brikwars armies moving into the other wargames' territories and dominating it so thoroughly. Great report!

I couldn't agree with you more. While we were at this particular shop, onlookers were constantly snooping in to see what was happening; sadly, it's not a shop I frequent, so I can't try to stir up interest. The folks just aren't as friendly as at the place I go to in Philly.

But same thing happened today at Redcaps in Philly. I set up a lego board for another kid and I to play brikwars; there was a WM&H game going on right beside us, and a good 5 or 6 people were snooping in to watch brikwars. Very satisfying.